


Delphine on the run

by Bitterblue



Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-23
Updated: 2014-10-23
Packaged: 2018-02-22 06:59:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2498837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bitterblue/pseuds/Bitterblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What it says on the box.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thosefarplaces](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thosefarplaces/gifts).



She watches his hands as they talk; spread wide to indicate honesty and openness. His voice is a drone of opportunities and the good work DYAD does.  _The chance of a lifetime_ , he promises.

"Delphine," he says (she wishes he wouldn't, but she swallows it and smiles instead), "you have the chance at participating in some ground-breaking experiments here at DYAD. For example, we're working on cloning human stem cells. I'd like to give you the opportunity to join us."

She says she'll think about it, that she's flattered, that it is a huge offer.

She doesn't call him back.


	2. Chapter 2

A year after she moves to Toronto, Leekie requests a meeting in his office. She hasn't seen him since he wined and dined her into DYAD except in passing; the smarmy smile is exactly how she remembers it.

"You've done good work here, Delphine. I'd like to offer you a promotion, a new team: a top-secret project involving the cloning of human cells."

She watches him, considering, and then stands from the uncomfortable guest chair with a regretful smile. "I'm sorry, Dr. Leekie, but I would rather stay with my current project." She leaves before he can change her mind.


	3. Chapter 3

She never thinks of her clone as a person, just a sequence of DNA, an identifying tag. 324B21 is a concept. A figment of their collective imaginations. (She tries not to think about how many others there might be.)

Leekie leans against her desk in a too-familiar way that she knows should bother her more, in the lab where anyone can see, but she's too busy enjoying the attention to mind much. "How would you feel about taking over as 324B21's monitor, since she needs a new one?" he asks.

She manages to get out a, "No!" through her laughter.


	4. Chapter 4

This has been a terrible mistake. She knew that 324B21 ( _Cosima_ ) was a person, but knowing is not understanding, and Delphine had not understood. Her heart pounds, heavy inside her ribcage, and counting the rhythm helps calm her down until a single thought solidifies: she cannot do this. She cannot monitor a perfectly normal, perfectly  _lovely_  young woman for DYAD. For Leekie.

She's going to have to quit.

Delphine slides into the seat of the limo waiting outside, apologies already on her tongue before the door closes all the way behind her. "Aldous, I was wrong, I cannot do this."


	5. Chapter 5

She hasn't been able to stop touching her lips in hours, the ghost of Cosima's mouth to her own too real to forget to and too brief to properly remember. In the morning, she'll have to report to Aldous. Tell him about this. Tell him about Cosima.

She wants nothing less than to spoil whatever fragile thing might have been with DYAD knowing.

She has a bag packed without quite planning it, then walks across campus. It's 2 am. "We should leave," she says as Cosima opens the door. "Well, I should, but I want you to come with me."


	6. Chapter 6

She doesn't move after she hangs up the phone. She should, she knows, to hide the evidence of her betrayal. Instead, she waits for Cosima, slumped in the desk chair and tired of lying.

The door opens, Cosima's voice cheerfully announcing the delivery of ice cream, and Delphine can hear her steps pause.

She turns, then, and the dismay on Cosima's face hurts as much as she'd expected, but Delphine stands and takes her hands before Cosima can move away. "You can be mad at me later, but I have just made a terrible mistake, and we need to go."


	7. Chapter 7

_It showed_  is enough to get her through booking flights.  _It showed_  is enough to call a taxi, make it to the airport, not crumple through security.

DYAD pays for the flights, which could get her into trouble later, but that's a problem for later. Delphine drinks as much wine as the flight attendant provides.

 _It showed_ , and Delphine thinks this is not what she signed up to do when she agreed to be a monitor.  _It showe_ d, so she pens a resignation on a cocktail napkin as the plane lands in New York for her connection to Paris.


	8. Chapter 8

"It isn't personal," Rachel sneers, and Delphine understands that she means it isn't personal  _to Rachel_  the same way she understands that Frankfurt is a threat to her job, possibly to her life. But Rachel can't understand that it's personal to Delphine in the same way that she can't understand that kidnapping a child is not a long-term solution to DYAD's problems with the experiment.

Delphine would rather die than get on that plane, so at the first chance she gets (stopping by her office, on the way to the limo), she dodges her guard and runs, escapes, for Cosima.


End file.
